Art and regeneration in Haverfordwest

Jacob Whittaker

From DC and the Dudes to the Sound of Music: over three days Jacob Whittaker invited the public to share their musical memories, to browse, discuss, play and contribute to a collection of vinyl records connected to the area culminating in a live Performance with a unique mix for Haverfordwest.

Jacob combines old and new, looks at memory, music, nostalgia and function, subverting notions of collecting for preservation and exploring technological change.

A film of the Live Performance on Saturday October 29 2016, “A Mix for Haverfordwest”, can be seen below, along with a collection of videos Jacob created connected to the Mix:

Feedback from the artist

Locating the work in Unit 23 of the riverside shopping centre was ideal and opened the work to a wide and varied audience, encouraging chance encounters and interactions with people of Haverfordwest. On installing I immediately had passers by interested and engaging with me through discussing both my work and the wider Platform project

I had roughly 30 visitors a day in the unit but was also aware that many more stopped and looked at the work through the window, without necessarily coming into the space and engaging directly. On the whole responses I had from visitors were positive, generated interesting and challenging conversations about the nature of music, art and nostalgia as well as some more oblique conversations about the development of the town, the location and its history.

Following the installation I was invited by artist Abigail Sidebotham to participate in another event in Manorbier on the 18th Nov for the Sea Empress Project – Jacob Whittaker

Our vision

Our vision is that in ten years' time the ancient port of Haverfordwest will have been re-imagined as a vibrant and distinctive market town, reconnected with its river, in full flow and charged by the creativity of its people.